The next morning, Zephyr reunited with Aura at the shop and left Josa to spend the day there while he and his wives decided to go out to the dungeon with the hero. Glyea was also settling into the new space, and with Okio to guide them both, there was much for them to learn about managing the shop, especially since Freya would no longer be working as the mascot, leaving them to handle everything from addressing customers to selling them on items.

As for the hero's party, now venturing to the guild's forbidden dungeon, everyone had something swirling in their minds. Some were related to their task at hand, while others were still trying to grasp the events of the last few weeks. Riddled with the remains of the war that they'd fought, the holt was full of scales, monster parts, and all sorts of remnants. However, surprisingly enough, dead zombie parts weren't the most concerning part for Rudy, Audrey, and the rest; instead, it was their contract and bond with the merchant accompanying them, along with his slave and vampire companion.

Eyes were all over Marquis. She was the least invited to their group by the hero's companions. A vampire whose mistakes, as it had been explained to them, had cost the lives of countless people from their village, and now they had to work with her. With that in mind, it was Charlotte who actually started putting her expertise to good use. But not because she trusted her, but rather to test if the vampire was any good.

"So, the second level, what can we expect? You must've been pretty deep down there if you got brainwashed and mind controlled for who knows how long?" Raising an eyebrow to her question, Valentine wasn't sure what she was supposed to say, but then Zephyr began feeding her lines through their mental link.

"Poison toads are done, so the next one should be a cave spider. It crawls on the ceilings and has walled up the area in many different sections with its web. When touched, the web sends vibrations that alert the spider monster."

"A spider? Great…" Audrey complained with a grimace, her hands scratching her sides at the mere thought of spiderwebs sticking all over her.

"We should be able to handle a spider, though," Rudy proclaimed.

"Let's not underestimate that thing, who knows what it can do." Speaking sense into the overconfident hero, Roxanne was about to speak some more when she noticed Audrey locking her eyes with her. Anger bled through her iris as she didn't appreciate her talking to Rudy that way.

"The spider can turn invisible, and it has multiple sets of babies which can crawl inside your orifices." Breaking the tension between the two, Valentine revealed more information about the monster. "Eyes, ears, mouth, and privates, they will get where they can and start eating you from the inside until their size grows big enough to lay eggs."

"Fuck… That sounds–" Halting abruptly, Charlotte covered her mouth to stop herself from throwing up. The others felt the same creeping feeling crawling from within as if the spiders were already inside their bodies, but thankfully for them all…

"If you're wearing the belts I gave you, then they at least can't get in your privates," Aura assured, smiling.

Not a fan of the spider monster either, she, too, had worn her gear underneath. Though hers was more cosmetic, as it had no extra benefit other than simply protecting her private parts. Heaving a sigh of relief, the party thanked the stars for having agreed to wear the belt for once. Otherwise, dealing with this monster would've felt far more horrific.

Eventually reaching the dungeon's entrance, the first thing the group noticed was that the cover that they'd placed to hide the entrance was thrown to the side. A pair of footprints could be seen going into the dungeon, but none seemed to have returned, hinting at a grim fate for some cocky adventurers.

"What do we do?" Turning to the rest, Roxanne braced her fist by her heart.

Kicking the footprints, Charlotte rolled her eyes with a dismissive scoff.

"It's dry; they've been in there for a while. Most likely dead…" Her assessment left little room for conjecture as the footprints were not only dry, they were in parts imprinted with the hooves of deer that may have wandered later on.

"Damn it… What was the point of warning the guild if they do nothing to impose the rules?" Grunting in frustration, the healer peered into the darkness of the dungeon once more. It was calling her in a mocking voice; her very nature to soothe was being trampled on by what it was doing to others. "We should go in and try to find what's left of them if we can."

Not waiting for an answer, Roxanne marched right in. Seeing how stubborn she was, nobody tried to stop her and give her luck stat; they simply followed her lead. If anything were to happen, it won't happen to her, or at least that was their assumption. Thus, staying behind, the party could minimize injury, but how long that holds true remains to be seen.

One step after the other, the group wandered through the first level until they reached the same space where the boss of the level had been. In its place now was a small hatch, and lifting it revealed a flight of steps leading into the second level. Preparing themselves the best they could, Zephyr sent the summoned goblin first and then sent everyone else.

Seeing through his use, however, proved to be difficult as the spider itself was invisible. But the smaller spiders quickly took the goblin as their host, and attracted them with all its dying might, the goblin's body turned into a spider-ridden infestation. With sheer terror, everyone watched it being devoured with its limbs still twitching. And the confidence that they once had was slowly draining.

Having come so far, however, there was no backing away now.

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